Using Customer Reviews to Build Critical Reading Skills

Abstract

online customer reviews to make hypothetical purchasing decisions for a product of their choice. In the second part of the unit, the students exercise the same stance as an online reviewer when they present their research to the class. The unit met my goals because the students had to put themselves in the reviewer's position to determine his or her credibility. They also had to perceive the way credibility is built to produce their own. Teaching students to use online information for consumer purposes serves as a practical means to teach students to evaluate what they read on the Internet. According to Walter Minkel in the School Library Journal, students are more likely to believe information when they read it online than in any other format (33). When students find information on the Internet, they often decide whether the information is reliable based on what appeals to them personally, instead of using strategies to help them decide. Even after students are shown strate-